An’ they talk a lot o’ lovin’, but what do they understand?

Beefy face an’ grubby hand—

Law! wot do they understand?

I’ve a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener land!

On the road to Mandalay—

Ship me somewhere east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,

Where there aren’t no Ten Commandments, an’ a man can raise a thirst;

For the temple-bells are callin’, an’ it’s there that I would be—

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ lazy at the sea—

On the road to Mandalay,